A connector housing often includes an enclosure and a header connector for connecting the electronic/electrical device to another device located outside the enclosure. In such a connector housing, the header connector typically includes a plurality of terminal pins mounted to a holding structure. The terminal pins include tail end portions adapted for connection to the electronic/electrical device inside the enclosure and contact end portions that are arranged inside a shroud of the enclosure to form a plug adapted for connection to a mating plug of another device.
A connector housing of the type described above is typically manufactured by mounting the header connector to the electronic/electrical device and then mounting the electronic/electrical device with the header connector inside the enclosure. This method of manufacture, however, has several drawbacks. There are difficulties in handling an electronic/electrical device with a header connector secured thereto and sealing an electronic/electrical device mounted to a header connector can be challenging.
In order to address some of these drawbacks of first mounting the header connector to the electronic/electrical device, it has been proposed to mount the header connector to the enclosure first and then mount the electronic/electrical device to the header connector. However, there are drawbacks to this method as well. It is difficult to produce a housing for the header connector that is able to support the terminal pins and maintain their spacing or pitch when the electronic/electrical device is being mounted to the header connector. This difficulty is exacerbated by the continual miniaturization of electrical connectors, which requires smaller and more fragile terminal pins and closer spacing.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an improved connector housing.